


We Belong Here, in this Universe, as Much as Any Speck of Stardust

by earthismyhome



Category: Star Trek
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, Multi, Other, Swearing, original star trek universe stories, scifi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 03:08:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28611078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/earthismyhome/pseuds/earthismyhome
Summary: "Once I got into space, I was feeling very comfortable in the universe. I felt like I had a right to be anywhere in this universe, that I belonged here as much as any speck of stardust, any comet, any planet."-Mae JemisonThis is basically a story about a starship and members of its  their adventures as members of Starfleet exploring the galaxy. It's set a few years after the beginning of TOS, so the original Enterprise is flying around somewhere at the same time as this story is taking place. The characters in it are my own, but I might mention some established canon characters if the context is right.
Relationships: OC/OC
Kudos: 1





	We Belong Here, in this Universe, as Much as Any Speck of Stardust

Stardate 2157.3

Humanity has always been fascinated by the stars.

In orbit around the red-orange planet of Cassian V, Science Officer Kenneth stared out the port-side window of a starship. The light of the local sun faded into a halo, allowing the inky blackness of space to fill the view. It would be, by her count, 93 minutes before the ship circled back around enough for the star to become visible again. 

She was currently assigned aboard the USS Curiosity, named after an early Earth rover sent to explore one planet over from the human homeworld. Her ancestors had reached for the stars, and now she was among them, on a vessel carried that ancient rover's name. Fresh off the line at the San Francisco Shipyards, this Curiosity enjoyed all the the centuries of technological progress that had occurred since the era of its namesake. Staring at the red planet below, her thoughts couldn’t help but go to another red planet in another solar system in a galactic spiral arm far, far away from here. She looked away as the angle of the ship caused it, too, to be momentarily eclipsed by glittering void.

The buzz of the intra-ship communication system interrupted her thoughts. 

"Officer Kenneth, please report to the Bridge immediately."

"That's odd," she thought. The stop at Cassian was supposed to be a quick supply drop to the joint Federation-Cassian research center, nothing that should take more than a few hours and certainly nothing a standard landing party couldn't manage. She hurried to the nearest turbolift. 

***

Stepping off the turbolift and onto the bridge, Kenneth could immediately see why she'd been summoned without needing an explanation. A giant beam of blue lightning, incomprehensibly tall and blinding when looked at, crackled its way from an atmospheric cloud formation down to the surface of the planet. It was... mesmerizing. It was also terrifying, considering the proximity of the place where it touched down with regards to the aforementioned research center. Their landing party could be in trouble. The Captain turned to her.

"Ah, good. I doubt I need to elaborate much on why I called you here. This anomalous electromagnetic phenomenon could be dangerous, and warrants investigation. We've lost contact with the landing party, as whatever _that_ "—the Captain pointed at the thing-that-was-possibly-lightning—"is, it seems to be interfering with our communication to the planet's surface," they explained. "As Chief Science Officer, this falls under your purview. Assemble a landing party and beam down to the surface. Lieutenant T'Len, you go with her."

"Aye, Captain," came two replies, not quite in perfect unison.

The Captain continued, "I doubt I need to remind you that Cassian is _not_ a member of the Federation. We are guests on their planet, and I don't need a diplomatic crisis on my plate. T'Len, I trust you will make sure that doesn't happen." 

"Aye, sir," replied the Vulcan. 

The two officers passed a look between them. It was one that expressed apprehension at being assigned to a mission with someone you don't know well for the first time, analysis of their capabilities and hope they would be successful in their joint endeavor. At least, that's what Kenneth interpreted it to be. T'Len was Vulcan, and Kenneth had limited experience with regards to Vulcans and the meaning they did or did not assign to glances of eye contact. 

"Go, the faster we can get you down there the faster we can resolve this," came the next command. "And come back in one piece, okay? Don't want to lose any good officers." 

And so they went. 

***

The shimmer of the rematerialization beam faded away, releasing the landing party from paralysis. Kenneth, T'Len and the two deputies that formed the remainder of the landing party started their trek towards the column of electricity. They had had to have been transported a small way away from the center, in order to minimize the risk of interference with the transporter beam. Knowing that security officers preferred not to chat while on active duty, Kenneth decided to try and use the time required for their journey to get to know her fellow Lieutenant. 

"So, you're a xenoanthropologist?" She framed the statement like a question.

"Yes. You already know this fact, hence I assume you state it not in search of confirmation but as part of the human custom known as 'small talk'." T'Len faced forward as she talked.

"...Yeah."

"Fascinating."

The walked a few steps forward in a silence Kenneth took to be awkward. 

"I expect I was chosen for this mission in order to not only prevent diplomatic blunders but also to provide an anthropological perspective to inform your findings. It is of interest to note that the humanoids in this region of Cassian observe festivities relating to their new year. These festivities are set to begin sometime in the coming few days. It is thus far unknown to outsiders what marks the passing of their year."

"Oh, what kind of festivities? Any important customs to note?" 

"Nothing that should concern us. The occasion is associated with consumption of discs of fried dough. I believe they are analogous to... what you may know as _flapjacks_." T'Len switched to English from Federation Standard for the last word of her sentence. Kenneth paused and turned to stare at T'Len. A Vulcan, speaking English!

"Hold on, how can you speak English?" 

"I can't. It's this patch to our universal translators I've been working on, that would allow the translation of specific terms more accurately by rendering them as a familiar term in the listener's native tongue. Thought this would be an opportune occasion to test it."

"Wow," was all the science officer could say in response. Her eyebrows joined her in expressing amazement as she thought about the _sheer complexity_ innate to universal translators and the difficulty in diy-ing anything related to them. Everyone knew how finicky and ambiguous they could be when discussing such culture-specific things as cuisine or swear words. Hearing the language she spoke growing up on a planet as far away from Earth as this from the mouth of her non-human colleague was slightly surreal. 

"You know, fried dough sounds pretty good. I didn't really eat flapjacks or pancakes or whatever growing up, but my dad always made this similar thing called qatayef. They're made of dough and filled with stuff like pistachios and cream..." Kenneth got a little wistful. "It's too bad we aren't staying longer. Local food is always nice."

Deputy Ivanov muttered something under his breath about bliny and maslenitsa before speaking up and saying, "From a security standpoint, the faster we get out of here, the better."

"Ah, right," she replied, looking back up at the giant pillar of electricity, "still, nothing to bring people together like some fried dough," she said with half a smile. The pillar grew larger as they drew closer, and the air was starting to feel static-y. Her previously silent tricorder started to pick up on something as they made their way over the top of a hill. She looked closer at the readings. They could only really be described as... unusual.

"These readings... if I'm not mistaken, they indicate that the electricity doesn't have a mechanical or meteorological source."

"Not mechanical _or_ meteorological? Do you mean to imply..."

"Yes, the source of this phenomenon is likely organic."

"What creature could create such an enormous discharge of energy? Certainly no humanoid known thus far to the Federation is capable of such a display," T'Len remarked. 

"I don't yet know..."

Before the science officer could could finish her reply, the crackling stopped. The pillar was gone, just as suddenly as it had appeared, and yet the air still felt electric. Kennaird could have sworn she tasted ions on her tongue. Of course, she knew that wasn't something she could taste. Still, it was uncanny. She felt _weird_. Not expecting an unemotional Vulcan or the stoic deputies to ascribe value to her unsettledness, Kennaird kept her assessment of the feeling to herself. They continued on, walking towards the building they knew to be the research center. 

***

Cassians were known for their pragmatism, insofar as any generalization could be made across an entire species. Vulcans were cold, Orions were resourceful and humans were curios in that certain, human, way, untranslatable into a human language with any degree of accuracy. Fish can’t tell they’re in water, or something like that. Cassians were known to be pragmatic. So when the landing party was met with a polite request to join the Cassian head of the research center for tea by someone wearing ornate robes, Kenneth had to wonder what was up. Was this custom in this part of Cassian? Had she pre-judged an entire species too quickly, or did her confusion have merit? She didn't know, she wasn't the xenoanthropologist. 

"This way, please," requested the envoy. The golden-mirrored threads of his draped sleeves caught the light filtering through the ceiling in a way that made them appear to flow against the purple of the fabric. 

The party obliged. The light filtered beautifully onto them, too. The multicolored photovoltaic cells that made up the domed glass roof were really an engineering marvel. Hardy against the sandstorms that were a staple of local weather, extremely efficient at providing power for the whole institute, and not to mention aesthetically pleasing. When the science officer caught her mind wandering, for the second time during this so-far-brief-but-still-very-important away mission, she shook herself. Damn—there was something about this place that positively screamed dreaminess, if dreaminess could be screamed. 

They entered the room to greet the stern but welcoming presence of the center's head. 

"Welcome. I can guess the purpose of your visit," she said, motioning for the four representatives of Starfleet to sit down. "It is good that you are here, as unexpected events have necessitated a change in scheduling. We would have sent your ship a comm, but"—she lifted her hands up to indicate the air—"interference interfered."

"Scheduling? Could you clarify?" asked T'Len. "We are unaware of any event other than this supply drop-off scheduled to occur during this orbital cycle."

"It concerns your personnel. We must request you leave immediately."

The security officers passed a look between them, and so did Kenneth and T'Len. It was one that said, "Shit."

"We will endeavor to leave as soon as possible, if you so wish. The original away team should be finished unloading the supplies in approximately 27 minutes." T'Len paused before continuing, "may I inquire why you request our immediate departure? There is no danger to our ship from the electrical phenomenon and the away team cannot return until they have completed their task. The cargo we have brought you contains refined ralgethium, among other such things that require specialized handling to unload. You, of course, know all of this. It is our hope we have not caused you offense."

The head's mouth tightened into a smile that did not reach her eyes. 

"You have done no such thing. However, it is of utmost importance that all non-Cassians leave here as soon as possible—"

"Hold on, _all_ non-Cassians? What about the Federation scientists stationed here? Apologies for being so direct, but Starfleet will need some sort of explanation for this sudden change of plans."

Kenneth hoped her interruption wouldn't be taken the wrong way. She knew how important it was to uphold these diplomatic ties. That's why she interrupted. The woman, who she now saw was named Ran according to the nameplate on her desk, looked pensive. 

"You have room on your ship?"

"I- yes."

"And you can leave here within the hour with all of your personnel?"

"If that's completely necessary, yes."

"Good. Then you shall do so. I cannot provide you with further details, but trust that you will accept our request based on a history of good diplomatic relations. Your Federation scientists are packing their belongings as we speak."

There was a moment of silence in the room. 

"We will need to contact our captain. Is there a space to do so privately?" T'Len's expression had not changed at all during their conversation. 

"My assistant will direct you to an appropriate facility," he acquiesced. 

"Thank you. Ivanov, Jaya, go assist with the cargo," she ordered. The officers nodded in acknowledgement.

Walking out of the office, Kenneth noticed for the first time five filigreed cups of tea on the side table that hadn't even had time to cool.

***

"T'Len to Curiosity, do you copy?"

Static buzzed through the communicator in a familiar monotone. There was still no reply. 

"It's no use, so long as whatever kind of wannabe Zeus over there keeps it up." Kenneth casually nodded her head in the direction of the pillar that had reappeared and resumed its crackling while they met with Ran. 

T'Len closed the communicator and raised her eyebrows. "Zeus?"

"Ah, sorry. Old Earth story."

"Ah."

She turned to look head-on at the bolt, visible as it was through the picture window of the room Ran had provided for them for contacting the Curiosity, before turning back to T'Len.

"Okay. Neither of us outranks the other, and we can't contact the Curiosity let alone the Captain. Some kind of megalomaniac lightning thing is out there messing with our communications and the Cassians have asked not only us but all Federation entities to leave. We've got to figure this out together."

"An accurate assessment."

"You're the one who knows real stuff about other humanoids... are the Cassians usually like this?"

"What do you mean?"

"So... vague. Indirect. Ceremonial? I thought this planet was all about straightforwardness."

"It is unwise to make generalizations. Still, the humanoids here have been acting uncharacteristically opaque. And their clothes... it's honestly fascinating. They seem to be some sort of ceremonial garments not usually worn. The embroidery alone must have taken ages. Oh, if I had the time to conduct a proper anthropological case study..." T'Len trailed off. It was not logical to go off on fanciful tangents during important, time-sensitive missions. "Officer. I must ask you, have you experienced... certain feelings of strangeness after coming here?"

A question about feelings from a Vulcan was not what she was expecting, considering the circumstances, but Kenneth did in fact know what she was talking about. 

"Yeah, it's like my thoughts keep going to some dreamworld. I'll have trouble concentrating on the mission and not even notice. Do you think it could have something to do with this damn static in the air?" She swatted at empty space, in a half-joking attempt to banish some invisible charges floating around.

"I am satisfied that your experiences corroborate my perception of unusual fuzziness and frivolity surrounding attempts at thought. The connection to electrical phenomena is unknown. I do suspect some of this could have to with the local celebration of the New Year. There is a dearth of information on their specific beliefs and rituals, a stark contrast with the amount available on generalities and public festivities. This lack correlates with the vagueness of Head Ran's explanations. As we are anyway unable to safely and directly transport out of here despite her expectation of us doing so, I believe it necessary we converse with her further."

"Sounds good." Kenneth quirked the corner of her mouth up into an attempt at a grin, and gestured with her hand to say, "after you."

The walk back to the head office was a short one. The hallways of the center were efficiently arranged, and the pace of the two officers was brisk. Both weighed in their mind different theories to account for recent events, strategies to possibly glean more information about whatever's going on and how the hell to transport over seventy people onto a Starship in the middle of electrical interference as quickly as possible with a landing pad meant for six. Just as they were about to enter, a tendril of lightning snaked its way through the atmosphere, arcing across the expanse of air to strike the building's roof in a split-second flash of light. The walls shuddered, and the door opened. It was Ran, her eyes glowing an unnatural blue and creating an odd effect combined with the deep purple of her robes and the light flush of her lilac skin. 

"You really need to get out of here, I must insist. The situation is more urgent than I thought. Don't worry about working the transporters, we'll take care of it. Just gather your people."

"Sir, with all due respect, the lives of 75 members of Starfleet are not something I can rest on a promise—"

Before she could finish her sentence, she was cut off by another crack of lightning and the ground-moving shake that accompanied it. The tremor threw Ran backwards, directly in the path of a quickly-crumbling doorway. T'Len, acting on training and impulse, lunged forward to grab her away from danger. The moment her skin connected with the director's, something happened. Her eyes, too, glowed a supernatural blue. Her mouth opened in the surprise of a silent exclamation. She instinctively let go. The glow snapped off, as if a lightbulb switched off behind her irises. Her eyes returned to their usual dark brown. She staggers backward. Ran looks horrified. Kenneth isn't quite sure what to do, but knows her duty is to her fellow Starfleet officer. She catches T'Len and steadies her on her feet. 

"Are you alright? What happened?" she asked, gingerly.

"I... am quite alright, thank you." She turned and looked directly at Ran, giving her a look that seemed to pierce her very soul. She gave the director a small nod. "I understand."

***

Ahitra Rakotoarisoa was packing her bags. Young, adventurous and really into medical science, she had jumped at the chance to be a part of the research team stationed on Cassian when the offer was given to her, straight out of the Academy. Starfleet had been her ticket to get off of Earth and see some small part of this infinitely vast Universe. And here she was! On another world! And now she had to leave. Having already carefully packed up the delicate lab equipment as best she could, all that was left for her to gather was her personal belongings. This room had been her haven for the past year and the lab had been her home. Taking down the diagrams that hung on her walls, putting away the various trinkets that decorated her shelves, stuffing her clothes into a suitcase, it all made it real. She was really leaving.

It had all started a few weeks ago. Ahitra remembered the moment clear as day, sitting in the cantina talking about some hypothetical project or other, when the first of them felt it. Something about the air being fuzzy, and some unintelligible explanations about a dragon under the desert. It was one of the techs from the botany lab. It was like he couldn't take reality anymore, like the very air bothered him. He had gotten into an argument with his friend, who seemed to have just been excited about the upcoming New Year and the brief vacation that would entail. Fair enough, everyone gets into arguments sometimes, but not everyone jumps on a table in a research center cafeteria asking the onlookers if they felt it too, that they _must_ feel it, that otherwise he's going crazy—without ever explaining what the "it" he was referring to was and then promptly fainting. The tech was fine, he'd been given some antipsionic meds and given the week off to recuperate. The incident was chalked up to overworking with hallucinogenic compounds combined with an exceptionally high esper rating. Ahitra had the esper rating of a rock, but that didn't mean her ordinary senses weren't working just fine. The way the Cassian scientists in the cantina looked at each other during that incident suggested that there was something they knew that the others didn't. Her colleague and friend, Oré, had quieted when she asked him about it. Usually the definition of gregarious, he hadn't been able to look her in the eye. A blush she knew meant fear simply crept its way up the lilac of his face, and he had made her swear not to ask anymore. They were scientists, why shouldn't she be able to ask about such a strange event? But he was her friend, and this mattered to him, so she agreed. She still didn't even know the tech's name. 

Then, about a week later, she noticed something else. The local scientists all started requesting vacation time to go and visit home. That would have been nothing out of the ordinary (the New Year was fast approaching, after all) but even those who lived nearby suddenly decided to go visit some faraway aunt-twice-removed a continent over. The local staff dwindled, leaving the center with a skeleton crew that was far more Federation-heavy than it had any business being. Eventually even Oré left, taking the majority of his things with him and wishing her health and happiness for as long as her consciousness inhabited the stars. The emotion in it made a simple holiday greeting sound like a final goodbye. She remembered his eyes. They had been unreadable. He had sent her messages as if nothing was wrong. She hadn't answered. 

It had been three days ago when the institute's decision-makers had held a meeting where they informed the staff that all Federation personnel was to take a month-long break from the planet aboard the Starship due to deliver supplies in three days' time. Ahitra felt bad for those who'd been at the center since its inception five years ago; three days of notice to uproot your life from the place you'd called home for five whole years? Of course, everyone knew something was up. People had been reporting feelings of intense-yet-vague unease, and being a community of scientists it hadn't taken long for someone to notice that the reports tended to correlate with one's telepathic abilities. There was only so many sudden onsets of cases requiring antipsionic meds that could be explained away. And then there was the matter of the Cassians. Coworkers, colleagues, friends, lovers— all suddenly started acting strangely. The senior staff switched their standard utilitarian coats and tunics for elaborate robes, and no one would explain anything. 

That got the story up to today. Ahitra had seen much more of the senior staff lately than she usually did, which was unsurprising considering the reduced number of people overall to see. They'd seemed visibly relieved as the starship's arrival drew nearer. Her supervisor had been teary-eyed yesterday, helping the techs pack up all the Federation equipment. Ahitra didn't really see the point in that, considering they should be back in a month, but she complied. She especially didn't see the point in his duplication of all their data onto a compact drive and his insistence that she take it with her (wasn't the data safer here, in a proper storage system and not on some fallible compact drive in the hands of a 22-year-old lab tech?). But he had insisted, and she couldn't see the harm in taking the drive, so she accepted. And then she'd come here to her room to start packing up her life into little portables. She'd passed someone in charge of logistics looking some combination of concerned and ecstatic in the corridor. The starship had arrived, without issue. They'd been unloading supplies with the care they required, not questioning the fact that the center looked like a ghost town. Of course they wouldn't question it. How could they know what it usually looked like? Ahitra took a moment to remember the usual crowd of lively faces, and properly miss it. Her packing was almost done. She opened the curtains of her room, thinking that maybe letting some natural light in would make her stop being so mopey, and saw it. Ah. That certainly was a source of light, though she wasn't quite convinced that it was natural. If the Cassians knew shit was about to get this weird, no wonder they were all so on edge.

Okay, time to be reasonable. There wasn't much Ahitra was sure of in this ever-changing existence, but there was one thing she trusted to be reliable: logic. Past experience, she supposed, also tended to be a pretty good teacher; unfortunately, she didn't have much. A giant column of lightning-like stuff appearing in the sky a couple weeks after everyone she knew on this entire damn planet started acting some level of strange was an experience she _certainly_ hadn't had before. So, logic. It appeared to be electrical in nature, though appearances could definitely be deceiving. It had a correlation with the other strange phenomena that had been happening lately, though correlation doesn't mean causation. She'd need some hard data. Where was the electrometer? Ugh, it was in the loading bay. Okay, loading bay it was. That was good, she had a place to go now, she had something to _do_ now, other than mope around about her premature departure. Ahitra grabbed her stuff and started to jog. 

***

Kenneth looked at T'Len, then glanced at the director, then looked back at T'Len again. She furrowed her brow and started to say something, quirking her head a bit to the side, a habit of hers when thinking. T'Len spoke before she could get the words out.

"I sense your questions. I would like to answer them, but, ah"—she looked up at the cracks slowly making their way up the building's walls—"I'm afraid there is no time." The Vulcan turned purposefully towards the Cassian. "The prophecy only binds you to silence, correct? Not me?"

Ran, still in a state of shock, could only nod. That particular gesture seemed to be rather universal to humanoids in this galaxy, the vast majority of them using it to mean "Yes, you are correct," or something comparable.

"Then... I believe this could work." Before Kenneth had the opportunity to ask what the "this" in question was, T'Len took her hand and held it up to the science officer's, her fingers in a complicated position. Their palms touched. She placed her other hand on the side of Kenneth's face, and her expression became the very image of focus. Kenneth's eyes widened, and then suddenly she couldn't see. She wasn't in the room of the research institute on Cassian, she was inside her own mind. An onslaught of images flashed before her, rapidly making their way into her memory. She was gaining new knowledge at lightning speed. The images should have overwhelmed her, but somehow they just... didn't. She saw the past of this particular part of Cassian, of an ancient prophecy banished to religion and then later, mere myth and children's stories. She saw the requirements of decorum, the announcement of the coming of the end of days and the forbiddance to speak of it to outsiders. She saw a strange myth that had miraculously survived and made it into the passive knowledge of every local around here, and a creature she acknowledged to be a dragon. She saw the prophecy coming true. Everyone, despite not wanting to believe it, had seen the same. They had resisted at first, investigated, wondered how the hell a kids' story about the world ending seemed to be coming true. Then they had felt it in their minds, the haziness and the surety. It was real. Eliminate the impossible, and then whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truth, right? Or something along those lines. Kenneth felt in her memory how they had seen it affecting the people from off-planet, and the helplessness they had felt in the face of it, as if she herself had been there experiencing it all. There had been nothing left to do other than replicate the appropriate robes, get your worldly affairs in order and _not speak a word to the outsiders about it_ , lest some primordial force make this particular armageddon unsurvivable. She remembered the events mostly from Head Ran's point of view, and saw now that the director had ordered a drop-off of specialty supplies as an excuse to get a Federation starship to make an extra stop at the planet. T'Len lifted her hands gently away from Kenneth, raising her already upswept eyebrows in an expression of hesitation.

"I... believe I now understand as well." She glanced haltingly at both Ran and T'Len. "Thank you for sharing this information with me."

There was a moment of hesitation as the science officer gathered her thoughts, and the two onlookers observed her state. 

"T'Len, I know this isn't the best time to ask about cultural practices, but was... that... a mind meld?" Kenneth had read about mind melds in a book about Vulcan cultural customs. The experience she'd just had didn't quite fit the book's description, but hey, Vulcan was a big planet. 

"No. I was merely utilizing the unique telepathic conditions currently present in this area to provide you with the required information in as expeditious a manner as possible. Mind melds are... well. Rather more invasive." T'Len looked down, then quickly snapped her eyes back up. "But you are correct in your statement about time. We must go and get the others, for reasons we all now know." 

The other Federation scientists would have been all packed up and ready to go by now, provided they'd listened to Head Ran's instructions. The building shook again. It was time to get to the transporters, before this whole place came crashing down. 

***

Ahitra ran to the loading bay, as fast as her feet could carry her. The building had started shaking at seemingly random intervals, which was more than a bit worrying. The young med tech wasn't convinced of the building's continued structural integrity. She turned a corner and made it down one final hallway, before getting to the large hall where a landing party from the USS Curiosity was unloading a shipment of delicate ralgethium. The loading bay! Finally!

"Hi guys, boy am I happy to see this place!" 

The members of the landing party, who'd already looked pretty concerned, got expressions of confusion, relief and more concern on their faces.

"...Who are you? Also, what's going on? Nobody came to meet us about the shipment, and then the ground started shaking, and I don't know if it's just me but something about this place makes it damn hard to think straight! None of the ralgethium's been damaged, thanks to these new duraplast containers. I don't like its chances if whatever's happening continues, though."

"Hold on, did you say ralgethium?" Ahitra, who'd been sorting through the pile of lab equipment she knew included an electrometer, looked at the officer. "Ralgethium, that otherwise-stable-unless-vigorously-shaken-and-mixed-with-an-M-class-atmosphere-stuff ralgethium?"

"I guess you could describe it like that, yeah," acquiesced the officer. 

"Nice. You guys'll want to get to the transporter room once you're done unloading that, by the way. Stuff in the atmosphere's making it hard to get a lock without landing pads. Better to get out of here as soon as possible." She grabbed the equipment she knew she needed, and made her way out the outer door.

"Map's by the door! Layout of this place is pretty simple, just follow it to the transporter room! Can't miss it!" she called back to them, letting the door close behind her and starting to make her way towards the storm. 

***

The director and the two Starfleet officers that accompanied her arrived at the transporter room to see nearly all of the institute's Federation scientists gathered together and waiting for something to happen.

"Are you with the Starship? Can you get us out of here?" asked a man in a coat that identified him to be a microbiologist. "Head Ran, can you provide any explanation? First the abrupt request for departure, and now this? More importantly, if only Federation personnel are leaving, what will happen to you?"

"I assure you that we will be fine, whatever comes to pass. You all, however, must leave— for your safety, and ours. There are things I should tell you, and things I cannot. Us Cassians are connected by a low-level telepathy, a kind of hive mind, if you will. It's never discussed. It isn't very strong. However, it is strengthening. I cannot tell you more. Our priority right now is to get the transporters working properly and you to your Starship."

"Head Ran, if I may? I think I can help with the transporters."

Ran nodded.

"The problem with them is the interference, right? Finally a problem with particles, those little things are my jam. From the information you... told... me, I know that you were planning on contacting the entity responsible for all of this and thereby creating a pause in the interference. I also know that you're unsure whether this plan would work. How about we try a different approach? Your telepathy is connected to electromagnetism. If we could gather up enough people to concentrate on the correct frequency, you could theoretically create a clear tunnel for safe beaming up." 

Ran considered this for a moment. 

"It could work. It definitely sounds more promising than my original plan. We would need to gather enough Cassians to sustain the effect for long enough, as this transporter has a limited capacity—"

It was at that moment the original landing party arrived, along with the two security officers from the second landing party sent to help them. 

"Great, you're here. That's everybody Federation except for"—the director did a quick scan of those present—"Rakotoarisoa! She's missing! You all who worked in medlab, have you seen her?" 

The cluster of medical science researchers shook their heads.

"Damn it! Where could she be?"

***

The electrometer was very similar to those in use on 21st-century Earth, though with a few improvements. For one, its user didn't need to be near the phenomenon they wanted to study. Ahitra was standing a not-entirely-safe-but-not-too-dangerous-either distance away from the storm, and from what she could tell, the column was definitely electrical. She'd taken an esper reader along with her on a hunch, and sure enough, the readings were increasing steadily as she got closer. Whatever that was, it was emitting some kind of telepathic field.

She wanted to go closer, to collect more data despite the risk, when she saw... a humanoid figure? Running towards her at a frenzied pace, that was definitely a humanoid. 

"Ahitra! Ahitra, I've figured it out!"

"Oré?!" 

That was definitely Oré. Out of all the things she expected to see out in this storm, her colleague and friend running at her shouting something about knowing the answer to it all was not it.

"It's a dragon, right? The thing that's causing all of this! Giant worm thing! Legends call it a god, a creator, whatever. It's a giant telepathic electric-eel dragon!"

She looked at the man like he was crazy. Then she thought about how he'd always been more interested in anguilliform medscience than the medicine of humanoids, and how this whole situation was all kinds of crazy. She decided she'd go with it. 

"A dragon?"

"Yeah! When I figured this stuff related to certain old myth, I went to the library next town over as fast as possible to try and get more information. I got it now! I get what's going on!"

"That's great, Oré! But why didn't you tell me?"

"I couldn't." His face fell. "I still can't- not entirely. No but seriously Ahitra, you gotta get out of here!"

"I'm not leaving you out here alone! Not after you up and left and then just reappeared out of nowhere in the middle of a fucking monstrous electric storm!"

"That's exactly it! I'm not alone out here, but you are! You gotta get back to the institute, they've got transporters! Access to that starship hanging around up there in the sky!"

"What do you mean you're not—" she started to ask, but was interrupted by a tendril of lightning that split from the main column and suddenly made its way towards her. It was as if time started to move in slow motion. Logically, Ahitra knew the effect was merely a psychological one, caused by her sudden hyperawareness of every passing moment, but it still felt strange to her. Oré, expression terrified yet resolute, took two running steps towards her. He leapt in front of the bolt, saving her from its impact.

"No!"

His body fell slowly, and for a moment was still. She couldn't blink. He was just lying there. Then, after three excruciatingly long seconds had passed, his eyes opened. They shone a blinding, unnatural blue. 

"It has begun. I am free to tell you now, I checked. It says it's okay." He stood back up, electricity arcing in small sparks between his fingertips. 

"It is what you call a dragon. It is ancient, more ancient than you or I could ever know. It has the power of electromagnetic telepathy, same as all of us Cassians. Except it is not bound by the limits of our petty intuition. It has real power. There was an ancient prophecy, one that said when it awoke the world would end. The world is not ending; there has merely been a misunderstanding. The dragon is awake now, it doesn't want to sleep. It means us no harm, but you must leave. Your brain cannot process this in such an experimental state. Especially someone with as low an esper rating as yourself, being here will kill you. I'm sure you can already feel the effects."

It was true, she could. She had tried to ignore the throbbing headache that had been slowly developing over the course of the day, but it was getting harder by the minute to do so. 

"The dragon is intrigued by what we have accomplished during the passing centuries as it slept. It appreciates the interplanetary cooperation, and wishes to understand more about such strange people from far away. It does not wish to harm you, and that is why you must leave. There is a lot of figuring out to do, with how to make non-Cassians able to live on our planet. I suspect this newfound connection will require some adjusting on our society's end as well. I wish to keep in touch with you, and Cassian wishes to keep in touch with the Federation. We may continue our diplomacy long-distance until it is possible to return again in physical form."

"Should you tell the others? This is pretty momentous stuff."

"I do not need to, our minds are linked. They already know."

Ahitra could only nod.

"Well then, guess I'd better get back to the institute. It was good to see you again, my friend."

"Ah, I think I can help with that." He tentatively directed his hands towards the sandy ground. It was a moment before Ahitra noticed they were both floating. "Telekinesis." He smiled.

They made their way to the institute, where Ran was already explaining to the gathered members of the Federation what Oré had explained to Ahitra.

"I realize now we need not have a capacity problem with the transporters," she said, and looked at the other glowing-blue-eyed, lilac-skinned humanoid who had entered the room. He nodded.

The researchers found themselves and their belongings materialized in the transporter room of a starship. As people looked around at each other in astonishment at what had just happened, Ahitra took two steps forward. Wow, her headache had really been bad. She didn't even realize it until she was away from the surface of the planet, and couldn't feel all of its other interference. The haziness to her thoughts gone, all that was left was a sharp pain. She took another step and collapsed.

***

Ahitra came to in the gleaming white room whirring with different instruments that she knew must be the medbay of the orbiting Starship. Left at first with only a muddy recollection of what happened, she stared at the ceiling as the doctors checked her over. The memories jumbled inside her head sorted themselves out, as one of them advised her, "You'll be fine. Just get try and get some rest."

Oré messaged her on the subspace comms soon after. They were back on amicable terms now. He had apologized for freaking out and leaving her so suddenly, and she had apologized for being reckless. 

“How would you feel if something you thought was an ancient myth foretelling the end of days started coming true in front of your very eyes?” was his reply to her verbal poking.

"Okay okay, fair," she laughed as she typed the message. Even having lived through it, it still seemed absurd. But then again, that was life as a member of Starfleet. "You know, I rather like it here on the Curiosity. I think I'll stay, if I'm given the chance." She looked around the clean, streamlined medbay and say the two Chief Medical Officers having a heated debate over the benefits of Meztlian protein therapy.

"If you're happy there, I'm happy for you," came the reply. "Hope your transfer request gets accepted, then."

"Yeah," she typed, "I hope it will. Take care of yourself, will you Oré?"

"I will. You take care of yourself too, Ahitra. You humans... I don't know how you do it. Being the only ones inside your head. You are so... alone. So I wish you well."

***

Back on the ship, the Captain listened intently to the mission report of the two officers. 

"Most interesting. I am glad you completed your mission successfully, and brought all these people back safe. This will be quite the report to send to Starfleet." 

The Captain looked down at the red-orange planet, considering. 

"You two and that medical officer show promise. This five-year mission will be an interesting one, indeed."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First chapter published! Yes!!!


End file.
